The survival of patients with colorectal cancer treated in a regional hospital

Abstract

The survival rate for 301 patients who had a resection for colorectal cancer in Oxford over a 6-year period between 1966 and 1971 has been reviewed. The crude and age-adjusted 5-year survival rates for those who had a resection for cure were 37·3 per cent and 53·8 per cent respectively. The corresponding survival rates for all patients after resection were 25·8 and 37·2 respectively. The most important determinant of survival was the pathological stage of the primary tumour, the agecorrected 5-year survival being 100 per cent for stage A lesions, 58 per cent for stage B, 27·1 for stage C and 5·5 per cent for stage D. Patients who presented with either intestinal obstruction or perforation of their carcinoma had a significantly worse prognosis than those who did not. Patients under 35 years of age did not survive as long as older patients. Those patients who had an anterior resection survived longer than those who underwent colectomy or abdominoperineal resection, probably due to the selection of pathologically favourable cases in the former group. The occurrence of infection in the postoperative period did not influence survival. Thus, in general, patients with colorectal cancer have a poor 5-year survival (with the exception of stage A lesions), and this indicates the need for development of effective adjuvant therapy after surgery for this disease.